“Let’s see them aliens!” was the general cry of several excited social media dwellers who responded to the Facebook event “Alienstock: Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us!” publicized back on June 27. The fact that one of the accounts hosting this particular event is a meme account did little to quell some peoples’ desire to see some funky green aliens. Over 2 million people clicked “Going” and some 1.6 million clicked “Interested”. While the likelihood of very many people taking it seriously is slim to none, the Airforce felt it had to issue a statement “discouraging” anyone attempting to break into the facility, which is an actual secret military operation and as such is treated as one legally; in fact, by trying to break into the facility, people would be breaking Section 1382 of Title 18: entering a military installation without permission. The repercussion of that would include a $500 fine, a thorough search, or worse; Area 51 has a history of resorting to drastic measures to prevent “infiltration”, whether that person was running like a famous anime character or not.

Regretfully, the upcoming Facebook joke that was cultivated (by memes) out of control and became a “possible humanitarian disaster” was canceled. Besides the legal backlash, the weather posed a serious threat to whoever would decide to show up — heat strokes do exist. One of the event founders, college student Matty Roberts, was so worried about the possible negative outcomes that he’s partnered with a more “stable appreciationevent”, thus relocating​ “Alienstock” to downtown Las Vegas for the BudLight Area 51 Celebration​, where the facilities are better equipped to prevent any health and safety issues. Despite this, the Airforce is still taking pre-emptive measures in case there does happen to be a mass gathering of people due to the expansive media coverage. “Our nation has secrets, and those secrets deserve to be protected,” said Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein.

This entire ordeal could merely exemplify a joke that happened to spiral out of control because people desperately needed a laugh — it’s very likely.

Or maybe people weren’t kidding. It’s been proven throughout history that humans strongly dislike uncertainty, and that generally, attempts must be made in order to prove the nature a “thing”. And it could fundamentally bother some people not to have a clear and proven idea of what goes on behind the Area 51 Government veil.

So… carpool to Nevada anyone?